Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Have you eaten a crosne?

Yes, its sounds like a mean old witch, but in fact it is a very small root vegetable, less than 2" long, shaped like a screw or a bumpy grub worm, white, plump and shiny.

I read about crosnes last fall. Several newspapers carried food articles hailing these little tubers as the latest gourmet ingredient. Almost immediately I saw them on several menus. The first time was at Melisse. A week or so later we found ourselves at Providence and once again crosnes were scattered around a plate or two. And in NY for my birthday trip, we found crosnes on the menu at Per Se.

At Melisse they were offered as a starter, just sautee'd with some herbs and butter.

At Providence and Per Se we found them scattered on the plate with a meat course. They do a good job soaking up flavorful sauces.

But what are they? Where do they grow? How do they taste? Well, they taste about as bland as they look. There is a slight earthiness to them but to my taste, the flavor is so minor as to be non existent.

The GourmetSleuth offers a few good images and some information, but for the truly curious I recommend this Mother Earth News article titled Crunch a Bunch of Crosnes. Apparently the plant is a relative of mint. They can be grown quite easily. The Crunch a Bunch article has recipes, sources for buying, sources for growing and much more than even I care to know about the crosne.

Pickling is mentioned at both sites. I have not tried them pickled and now I'm even more intriqued.

Strange little things. Has anyone else experienced the crosne vegetable? What are your thoughts on the grub of the vegetable world?